Basic and advanced connectors in Boomi Connect
Boomi Connect provides basic and advanced connectors for making connector tools available to MCP clients.
Basic connectors are the existing Boomi Connect MCP connectors. They provide a predefined, static set of tools. An administrator selects which of those tools to make available through a connector configuration.
Advanced connectors use a dynamic tool configuration workflow. Instead of relying only on a predefined tool set, an administrator searches the operations available from the connected application, selects the required tools, configures tool-level properties when applicable, and enables those tools for use through Boomi Connect.
Basic and advanced connectors differ primarily in how their tools are defined and configured.
| Connector type | Tool configuration |
|---|---|
| Basic connector | Provides predefined tools that an administrator can select for the connector configuration. |
| Advanced connector | Lets an administrator search available operations and configure the specific tools to include in the connector configuration. |
The connection fields, authentication requirements, available operations, and tool configuration options depend on what is available in the target endpoint and supported by the connector.
Why use advanced connectors?
Use an advanced connector when a basic connector does not provide the tools or fine-grained access you need for specific resources in the target application.
Depending on the connector and target application, advanced connectors can:
- Connect to on-premises, private, or tenant-specific deployments that are not exposed through publicly accessible REST endpoints.
- Work with custom objects and fields defined in your system instance.
- Discover available operations dynamically from the live API or specification.
- Surface new endpoints or objects from the API without waiting for a connector code update.
- Extend existing Boomi connectivity into agentic workflows without duplicating effort or rebuilding from scratch.
- Reduce the need to build custom APIs or middleware to expose enterprise systems to AI agents.
- Expand the range of enterprise tools available to AI agents as more advanced connectors become available.
Administrator and end-user workflows
Basic and advanced connectors use the same overall administrator and end-user workflow. An administrator configures the connector and determines which tools are available for end-users. End-users access the enabled tools through MCP clients.
Authentication and authorization
Authentication and authorization occur at different points during administrator setup and end-user use.
Administrator credentials are used only for administrative setup. The selected advanced connector might require authentication or authorization to the target application before you search its available operations.
For Basic authentication, provide the credentials required by the connector. A separate authorization token is not required before searching.
For OAuth or authorization-code authentication, authorize the connection before searching for tools. Boomi Connect generates an authorization token and reuses it for subsequent searches during configuration.
When an end-user connects from an MCP client, the end-user authenticates with the configured identity provider (IdP). If target application authorization is required, each end-user authorizes the target application with their own credentials. This generates a token associated with that user's identity. Administrator credentials and tokens are not used for the end-user's runtime access.
